In this podcast (broadcasted in German) we talk with people from practice, science, consulting and other areas. We learn about the diversity of agroforestry systems and hear about opportunities and challenges.

You can find the podcast on the link below and on Spotify, Apple podcast and Co.

Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies are the main targets identified by FAO

As of the 2022 report by FAO on the state of the world forests, identify the following main ways on how forests and trees can contribute to green recovery and a transition to sustainable economies:
- Halting deforestation and maintaining forest ecosystem services would benefit climate, biodiversity, health and long-term food security
- Forest and landscape restoration and agroforestry help diversify livelihoods and landscapes and increase land productivity
- Increasing sustainable forest use, and building green value chains, would help meet future demand for materials and support sustainable economies

The report highlights: "Globally, ecosystems at risk of deforestation or degradation contain at least 260 Gt of irrecoverable, or difficult-to-recover carbon, particularly in peatlands, mangroves, old-growth forests and marshes. Unless additional action is taken, an estimated 289 million ha of forests would be deforested between
2016 and 2050 in the tropics alone, resulting in the emission of 169 GtCO2e.
The latest data confirm that agricultural expansion is driving almost 90 percent of global deforestation. This land-use change responds to multiple underlying drivers, including poverty and unsustainable production practices and consumption patterns.
Therefore, more efficient, productive and sustainable agrifood systems are key for meeting future needs for food while reducing demand for agricultural land, maintaining forests and securing the multiple benefits that forests provide to farming systems, but productivity increasing must be sustainabe, while synergies and trade-offs need to be addressed, where multistakeholder engagement is crucial point.
Of the 2.2 billion ha of degraded land identified as potentially (biophysically) available for restoration worldwide, 1.5 billion ha may be best suited for mosaic restoration combining forests and trees with agriculture. A further 1 billion ha of croplands on previous forestlands affected by land-use change would benefit from strategic additions of trees to increase agricultural productivity and the provision of ecosystem services. Agroforestry systems tend to be more resilient than conventional agriculture to environmental shocks
and the effects of climate change. Depending on the system and local conditions, agroforestry can achieve
50–80 percent of the biodiversity of natural forests; increase food security and nutrition by serving as a safety net; and increase crop productivity.
Although numerous studies have demonstrated the higher productivity of agroforestry systems, many farmers
perceive them as less productive and thus financially risky. On average, agroforestry sees profitable returns after 3–8 years; for annual cropping systems, this period is normally 1–2 years. The greater uptake of agroforestry requires incentives and strategic investments to achieve restoration and improved production objectives.

Video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWtslaGVf_U
Brief report: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb9363en
Full digital report: https://www.fao.org/3/cb9360en/online/cb9360en.html

The open ceremony of the FAO's 8th Forest Week, 26th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) (https://www.fao.org/events/detail/cofo-26/en?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social+media&utm_campaign=fao4members) is saved on the FAO podcast archive (https://www.fao.org/webcast/home/en/item/5960/icode/)
The General Director of FAO highlighted the importance of the synergetic approach of the high-level panels of the COFO and COAG under the threats of the climate crisis effects on forests, the increasing need for deliver equality and food safety, in order to implement the SDGs (https://sdgs.un.org/goals), which are still or even more important then anytime before.
QU DONGYU pointed that we know tools, practices and solutions so, we need the will to implement all them to get over the crises effecting our one and only Globe, therefor we have the act in a coherent and synergetic way.
The importance of forests laying on the its basic role of ecosystem, but forests must be considered together with all other ecosystems, such as with grasslands and wetlands. In the meantime, economy, ecology and the society needs be on the same level when actions are taken to reach win-win solutions. Therefore, the key issues must be tackled climate change and greenhouse gases, restore productive capacities, together with ecosystems restoration and economic stability while creating “green value chains” for the increasement of locals’ quality of life.

Princess Basma bint Ali, FAO Goodwill Ambassador for Near East and North Africa highlighted the importance of despite the degradation of natural and primary forests, at least agroforestry area is increasing and gaining back agroecological practices leading the most degraded agricultural lands to regeneration and regain production capacities. Refering to the FAO report on The State of the World's Forests (SOFO) 2022 https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca8642en

A new legislative milestone for EU biodiversity: the Commission’s long-awaited proposal for the EU Nature Restoration Law is finally published.
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/nature-restoration-law_en

The proposal is a pioneer in its ambition and legally binding targets, but there still are a few key points in need of strengthening. Therefore, CEEweb calls for its urgent adoption and implementation as it is a true and strong attempt to reverse the tide of biodiversity loss and climate change. The European Parliament and Council of the EU must fully endorse the positive elements and strengthen the existing weaknesses without delay.
https://www.ceeweb.org/article.php?id=616

CEEweb representative Mr. Ádám Varga highlighting the relation of the new act and its practical implementaion over agrofrorestry (as part of the Agromix project) and ecological connectivity (as part of the SaveGREEN project https://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/savegreen#!), as both issues are some of the most important implementaion areas of biodiversity protection on the spot.

Today, we face the challenge of producing food and fibre to meet the needs of both humans and the environment, for the current and next generations. In practice, that means bringing together productivity and healthy ecosystems while making farms financially viable. Agroforestry offers some promising tools.

To find out how we can integrate them in our farms we are interviewing farmers, scientists and other experts to share with you their experiences and practical advice. What trees to plant and how to manage them? How can we best integrate different productive elements? What business models for agroforestry systems?

We are tackling these questions and many more. If you are interested in how we can make agroforestry work in a diversity of contexts - this podcast is for you!

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